Ideal for friends who complain about the service no matter how fancy the establishment and how attentive the server. A robot waiter changes the whole game; now you can only blame the nerd who made the bot. Also, this dude dates back (like all good things do) to the ’80s.

Who doesn’t harbor a nostalgic fondness for the first time she met a soda machine robot? Its punchy buttons are big, and bright, and it’s so satisfying to whale on one and hear the crash-thunk-crash of the can tumbling through the mechanized interior.